177 Optimer Pharmaceuticals employees face layoff after acquisition

When Cubist Pharmaceuticals completed its $535 million acquisition of Jersey City-based Optimer Pharmaceuticals in late October, Optimer employees were told the New Jersey office would close down in 2014.

This week, 177 Optimer employees received layoff notices, Cubist spokeswoman Julie DiCarlo confirmed in an email. The layoffs will take place at the New Jersey office along with other locations in San Diego and in Canada, DiCarlo added.

Optimer, a biopharmaceutical company founded in 1998, had sales of $100 million last year, down from $144 million in 2011, financial records show.

The company focused on developing specialty drugs to treat gastrointestinal infections and related diseases. In 2011, it received regulatory approval for the first antibacterial drug in 25 years approved to treat certain types of diarrhea in adults. But sales failed to meet expectations after the drug, called Dificid, faced strong competition from generic alternatives.

The Optimer layoff announcement follows a recent one in which pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline said it would shutter its Clifton oral care manufacturing plant and cut 165 jobs.

In the Optimer layoffs, DiCarlo said that with the exception of a few senior executives who already left, all employees will remain through at least the end of this year. New Jersey law requires that employers provide at least 60 days notice before any layoff or plant closing.

DiCarlo added that the Massachusetts-based Cubist is working with affected employees “to see if they might be a fit for other roles.” For those it cannot place, she said, “we are providing severance and support as they look for opportunities outside of the company.”

Cubist, which employs about 750 people, generated nearly all its $900 million in revenue last year from the drug Cubicin, a potent antibiotic it sells to hospitals. In September, the company closed on the purchase of Trius Therapeutics, that one for $700 million.

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